Theater company presents reading of playwright Mel Nieves’ new work

From BrooklynOne Productions

BrooklynONE productions, a theatre and film company based in Bay Ridge, is teaming up with Labyrinth Theater Company playwright Mel Nieves to present a staged reading of Nieve’s new play “Full Moon Inside a Red Sky” May 18, at Dimensions on Stage at 7601 Third Ave. at 8:15 p.m. with a Wine Reception to Follow.

“Full Moon Inside a Red Sky” tells the story of two strangers with wounded hearts that find themselves underneath a full moon with a red sky and discover that love is only a fallen snowflake away.

The performance is free, but donations are welcome, said Anthony Marino, founder and artistic director of brooklynOne Productions.

“The play actually came about last summer,” Nieves said. “I was involved in a project created by Micheline Auger, a playwright and blogger/creator of TheatreSpeak. The project was called "WRITE OUT-FRONT: A Playwright Happening. In the front window of the Drama Book Shop, in Midtown Manhattan, there was a sign that read, ‘Playwright working,’ with an arrow pointing down to just that,” he said.

The three-week project featured 76 participants in two-hour shifts. As the writers worked on new plays, with a screen shot of their words was visible to passers-by. Micheline Auger, who runs the blog Theaterspeak, came up with the idea, Nieves said.

“I went to the Drama Book Shop at my appointed time slot, with my laptop, notebook, sat down at a desk, took a breath, and started writing, passersby would look at what I was writing on this screen, and after my time was done, I had like nine pages of something, which after another couple of weeks ended up being Full Moon. I didn’t think twice about the script until I ran into Anthony Marino, well not actually ran into but connected with via Facebook I believe. He had mentioned his theatre company brooklynONE Productions and I suddenly remembered ‘Full Moon’ and I sent it to him. Anthony responded positively and we set up a table read where I got to hear the play for the first time. The actors in the company responded well to the material as well, which was most encouraging, and well here we are,” Nieves said.

“Working with Mel Nieves is a true honor and privilege,” Marino said. “We are so happy to continue to present quality works in our area of Brooklyn, and continue to expand our collaborative relationships. We are moving arts in the right direction in South Brooklyn.”

Each month brooklynONE produces a reading series at LoneStar Bar featuring new works by playwrights.